


The Fall

by LaurenRuthBl



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Multi, Other, Post-Apocalypse, Pre-Zombie Apocalypse, Psychological Trauma, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-30 02:37:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12098859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaurenRuthBl/pseuds/LaurenRuthBl
Summary: The world has come to an end. Unknown disease ravages the earth, killing its victims and turning them into aggressive flesh-eating feral ghouls of their former selves.The story follows a group of survivors, as they struggle to survive in this new dangerous world.Exploring the last remnants of the humanity, the story delves deeper into the best and the absolute worst of human nature.Rated M for language and violence.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I have suffered from writer's block for nearly 8 years and finally decided to get back. I'm only posting this now, because I absolutely NEED constructive criticism. 
> 
> I'm not native English speaker, so my language might be tad clumsy and grammatical errors may ensue. I will welcome any suggestions or tips! :) 
> 
> This is kind of an pet project of mine. It will be long and slow-burn, featuring lot's of different characters and each chapter will have designated character POV. I'll try to work on this every day, but I will use lot's of time improving and refining my already published chapters. I will probably upload one new chapter per week.

  1. Charlie Greene I



                                                             

_“There are others. There will be others. Other heroes, other heroines. Other prophecies to fulfill, other adversaries to despise. There will be stories told and forgotten, and reinvented anew until one day, perhaps, the oldest are remembered, and the beginning may end, and the ending begin.”_

_― Jacqueline Carey_

_Sometimes we stop to think about our life. Nostalgic thoughts of yesterday intertwining with hopeful visions of future, only be plagued by the fears of failure and misfortune._

_We stop to think when we are alone, feeling vulnerable. Staring into the deep void of nothingness, afraid that someday our fears will raise their ugly heads and stare right back at us._

  * _Charlie Greene, days after the fall: 0_



The Beginning

 

Charlie Greene was no hero. So, when the cities started to grow increasingly more unsafe, she thought it best to bail.

 _Bailing,_ glum snide of the word itself carried a mocking significance, it was something she had a life-time record of excelling at.

She had no family, not really. She _had_ two sisters and a father, but they all despised her, aching symptom of ignorance from her part. It really wasn’t the case of evil unkind relatives but instead quite the opposite, they were kind and decent human beings, prone to healthy amount of self-respect and chivalry. Her sisters were pretty and confident, standing tall, living their life with pride instead of dragging it through gutter every chance they got.

Her decision to pack up her things and leave for her family couldn’t possibly be viewed as an act of pure courage and selflessness. It was deep-rooted cowardice, fear of being alone and vulnerable.

_Charlie had always been alone, she had always been vulnerable, though it was something she would hide with a hurting smile laced with a stupid crack of a joke._

Tuesday evening Charlie had boarded the last bus in hopes of reaching the very family that felt so unknown to her. Streets had been curiously silent, only occasionally disturbed by passing cars or distant sirens.

_It was calm and serene, like still water before a storm._

Something sinister was seemed to be lurking in the immediate future, hiding behind the last fleeting moments of peace, masking its presence with meager disturbances far off in the distance.

The rain started to fall, drumming against the window and Charlie felt her eyes grow weary by the steady sound of gently pouring rain accompanied only by someone softly snoring. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted into peaceful sleep.

Blinding pain teared her away from her slumber and she felt her head had burst open, heavy and swollen against the cold uninviting metal flooring.

_How did she end up on the floor?_

She reached for her forehead and for a fleeting moment of terror she thought that her head had really burst open like a melon, warm, sticky blood gushing against her hand. She winced at the sight of mushy mixture of black hair and blood against a pale skin of her palm. Weak cough escaped her lungs, her breath raspy as she drew in the cold dusty air.

Groaning, Charlie pulled herself up from the rubble trying to get a grasp of her surroundings, she could hear blaring alarms accompanied by screams of terror. The screams were terribly inaudible, sounding almost surreal but she could tell that something had gone dreadfully wrong.

As she struggled to gain a better view through the grimy window obstructed by heavy smoke and falling dust, she felt a lash of a sharp pain in her head. Fear was beginning to creep in, situation outside had grown awry and she was seriously hurt.

Screams and wailing felt suddenly more silent, like they were growing more distant – or abruptly silenced. Now the place was filled with constant sound of dripping water and loud thumping on the walls.  Somehow, Charlie felt even more scared and nervous.

 _“I have to get out.”_ She thought and desperately scanned her surroundings.

Charlie decided that it was the best to try the nearest door so she made her way towards the exit, but after a few hasty steps she felt deafening pain flooding down on her abdomen. Rusty smell of blood clung onto her clothes, she was bleeding, badly. Sharp piece of broken glass was pointing out of her stomach.

“Shit.” Charlie panicked as the painful realization threw her off balance.  “Shit!” She lurched over and emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground. She desperately clamped her hands on her abdomen to control the bleeding, resisting the urge to pull the shrapnel out since it would probably result in her bleeding out.

 She breathed hard as she reached for the handle of the banged-up door. Locked. Dread started to occupy her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried to push it away. She knew she had to get help, and soon, but that wouldn’t matter if she couldn’t even get outside.

Thinking hurt her head, but she forced herself to think anyway. The windows were mostly broken, but she didn’t want to risk cutting herself even more.

Charlie felt the cold wind blowing in from front of the bus. There, she saw that the front-door was halfway open, she could maybe squeeze through if she was lucky. Two rows ahead of her, someone was stirring on their seats. Between her pain and panic, Charlie hadn’t even stopped to think about the other passengers. She felt ashamed.

“Hello?” She called weakly.” Are you hurt?” _Stupid question, of course they are hurt._

Her eyes darted to the ground below the moving passenger and she was mortified. Floor was colored red by spreading lagoon of blood. _Too much blood._ Other passenger was breathing heavily, his breath was ragged and labored. He hunched over and fell from his seat.

As he raised his gaze, Charlie shuddered at the sight of his empty eyes. Not once in her life had she seen eyes like that, so emotionless and feral. Air grew suddenly very thin and it was hard to breathe. Charlie felt wrong, like some primal fear was screaming inside her head.

And for the top of its lungs, it was urging her to escape.

The feral man slowly stood up and stared at Charlie with its hollow, dead eyes. It let out a low, grumbling grow and shuffled forward.

 _He’s confused._ Charlie thought and took a slow step backwards. Maybe if she was careful enough, she could get past him and escape through the door.

She was just about to be content with her plan, when the feral man suddenly lunged towards her. Charlie felt her legs give in and she fell flat on her back.

 _I’m going to die here._ She thought, _I’m going to die in this shithole of a bus._


	2. Confined

  1. Charlie Greene II



_“Every man is a prisoner of their values, guilty of harsh judgment and prejudice. We shouldn't judge a man by what they have done, but by what they chose not to. “_

 

 

      - Confined –

 

 

Charlie stirred in her sleep, now in half-awake state of consciousness. She felt horrible, like she had been run over by a bus.

_Although that is not so far off._ She felt herself grimacing at the accurate thought.

Her head felt so ridiculously groggy and heavy not even a worst of the hangovers could compete with that. How was she still alive? She most certainly should be dead inside of that death trap of a bus, pathetically flailing around on her ass. Instead, she felt a soft linen under her beaten-up head and someone gently wiping blood off her forehead.

She opened her eyes carefully, squinting at the sight of light. There was a woman hunched over her, fair grey hair framing her sickly timid face as she worked. When she noticed that Charlie was awake, she flinched and gave her a worried and evasive smile.

“How do you feel?” she asked, speaking with a hushed and soft tone. Charlie propped herself up against her pillow and the woman gently grabbed her shoulders.

 “Careful now, I managed to stitch you up, but you shouldn’t overexert yourself.”

“How…” Words dried up in her throat as she tried to speak, the woman quickly offered her a cup of water which Charlie happily obliged. The water was warm and tasted a bit muddy, but she was so parched she didn’t really care.

“How am I still alive?” Charlie felt like a naïve child asking such a question so she quickly added, “Who are you?”

“My name is Judy.” She smiled nervously and continued, “We have a small group.  One of us, Jim found you when he was scouting for survivors. He brought you back and I managed to stitch you up.”

Charlie felt confused. She wanted to ask Judy about her feral attacker on the bus, but suddenly two men entered the room. Judy had a scared look on her face and scurried over so Charlie could have a better view at the men. They looked quite similar even though other one was obviously a bit older. The older man was bald and his face looked like it was stuck on the same, nasty expression no matter what he was feeling. Younger one looked a bit friendlier, he had a head full of dirty brown hair and brown eyes. They both shared the same crooked nose and splotches of freckles on their coarse sunburned skin. Charlie wondered if either of them was the man called Jim.

“She awake?” the older man grumbled. Judy simply nodded and stood up to leave. The older man shot a dirty look at her and approached Charlie with a vicious look on his face.

“You feel like sinking your teeth in my face? Feel like killing us all?” He brought his face uncomfortably close to her face and Charlie could see his ugly yellow teeth, his breath reeked of mixture of alcohol and rotting food.

“What? No!” She backed away from his face trying her best not to look disgusted. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Younger man leaning on the door frame spoke up, “She doesn’t look sick, Liam.”

The man called Liam twisted his face and turned to face the younger one.

“Doesn’t look sick? Jim, she was _fucked_ up! Didn’t you tell me that you capped her friend when you hauled her ass out of that shithole?”

“You _killed_ that man?!” Charlie chimed in. Jim shifted uncomfortably and sounded slightly irritated,

 ” Had no choice, he was going to kill you and rip my throat out. “

Charlie wasn’t sure should she feel scared or thankful. She chose to mumble awkwardly,

“Thank you.”

Jim flashed her a strained smile but Liam was not done accusing her. He grabbed her arm unnecessary hard and forced her on her feet.

“Woah! Slow the fuck down with your pleasantries! We still haven’t figured out what to do with her!”

Charlie swallowed nervously, Liam was obviously erratic and violent. Jim didn’t seem he would be much of a help, so she really had to think what to say next. She didn’t want to provoke Liam who was already fuming.

“I swear I’m not a danger to you! Please, just let me go. I can be on my way and you will never hear from me again.” She did her best to look convincing and sincere, even if the thought of going out on her own terrified her.

Liam’s expression changed from anger to fury.

“Let you go?! Do you have any idea how much _shit_ that bitch had to use to fix your sorry ass up?” He almost spat on her face. He then proceeded to drag her towards the bed and forced her down on the floor.

 “You are not going anywhere.” He growled at her face. “Jim, bring me something to tie her up with.”

Younger man obeyed and brought him a pair of plastic retainers. Liam shackled her tightly into the metallic bed frame.

“If it weren’t for your pretty face, I would blow your brains out.” Liam hissed into her ear before storming out.

Jim shot her an inexplicable look before following him. He closed the door after him and she was left alone in the dimly lit room.

Charlie let out a frustrated sigh and rested her head against the bed.

_This is just marvelous._


	3. Laws of Men

  1. Jim Curtis I



 

_” To be merciful is difficult, you lay bare all your fears, doubts, traditions. You lay them on your feet like a sword and pray that they won’t be used to strike you down, cut you aside and leave you bleeding on your own naivete. “_

_Days after the fall: 3_

_ \- Laws of men -  _

Jim let out an annoyed sigh. Situation outside had definitely taken a turn to worse, so they had been hunkered inside a small storage space for a few days now.

 _“And probably will be for a long time.”_ Jim thought bitterly. How long it would take for the governments to fix this? Weeks, months, years?

_Maybe they could never fix it._

The world had gone to shit in almost an overnight. People were succumbing to a weird disease that made them rabid and violent, mindless like starved animals. They would viciously attack anything on sight, rip them to pieces and devour what was left.

They had no idea how the disease was contracted, so it would serve them best to just hunker down for now.

Jim shuddered at the thought, he had no idea what to make of the whole situation. It felt like a sick play orchestrated by gods, and God almighty, was he deserving of smiting.

He felt a bang of guilt when he thought of the survivor he had saved the other day. Small, scrawny woman. She was ridiculously helpless, if he hadn’t intervened, she would have been ripped apart by that diseased man.   

_Stupid girl._

Jim was feeling restless, they had contained the girl, because she might be infected for being near that freak. Liam claimed he wanted to keep their group safe, that is was better to just imprison her and not risk it.

Jim knew that wasn’t the whole truth. Liam was not so noble, he didn’t give two shits about anyone. He just wanted to see how it happens. How the disease takes over and turns a person into raving animal. Liam didn’t even consider the fact that the girl might not be infected.

 _“And if she is, I might be too.”_ Jim felt sick and pushed the thought away.

“Mommy, when can we go home?” Little girl whined further away, tugging her mother’s sleeve. Her mother, Judy, looked at the girl with tired eyes.

“Soon, honey, soon.”

Jim felt annoyed by the notion. Judy was too weak to tell her daughter the truth. Part of him understood her, but part of him, the part that was feeling increasingly more stir crazy, wanted to scream at her.

Rest of their group of ragged survivors consisted of Judy’s sturdy and mean-spirited husband George. He always seemed to be on bad mood, so Jim generally tried to avoid him as much as possible. His brother on the other hand loved to instigate George and would laugh at his growing anger that was more apparent every day they would spent together. They would have a full-blown fight on their hands before too long.

_Stupid idiots._

George’s and Judy’s daughter was almost as timid as her mother. Always hiding behind her mother. She hadn’t said a word to Jim, just stared at him with those terrified, watery eyes. Jim felt slightly irritated, but then again, he couldn’t blame her. Jim was, after all, often accompanied by his brother who was loud and absurdly nasty with his remarks.

Jim couldn’t find his brother with his gaze, so he was most likely tormenting that poor girl.  

With a sigh, Jim stood up and headed towards the small enclosed room where they kept the girl. Just as he was about to enter, Liam emerged from the room with a frustrated look on his face. He shot an annoyed stare at Jim and snapped.

“What? You want something?”

Liam was slightly taller than Jim, but he returned the stare with a furious look. If there was something Jim hated, it was someone snapping at him. Liam sighed wearily, his expression softening.

“What is it, little brother?”

“It’s been almost three days. Don’t you think that we can let her go now?” Jim tried his best to sound stern and reasonable in front of his brother, but it fell a little flat.

_It was almost like Liam was always challenging him. Burning him with silent judgment. It made Jim feel weary and frustrated._

Jim didn’t really care about the fate of the girl in the other room, but he did care about his brother mistreating other people. Things like that could quickly escalate and turn into something ugly.

That same look of undermining annoyance returned to Liam’s face, like Jim was a little child that just didn’t understand.

“And do what with her? She might be infected. You saw how close she was that thing, she – “

“I might be infected too! I killed that man! I breathed in the same air as he did! Hell, I carried that girl all the way here!” Jim was angry, he knew had taken a stupid, unnecessary risk saving that girl. Risk that might end up costing him his life.

_Did his brother think so little of him, not to even consider that?_

Liam opened his mouth and closed it again. He was surprised by his brother’s sudden outburst.

“You are not sick.” He said wearily. “I know it.”

“Then how can you be so sure that she is?” Jim was still angry, but he felt small warmth in his chest. His brother was visibly shaken by the thought of him being infected.

“I – “Liam paused, for a brief moment he almost looked like there was glint of compassion in his eyes, then his hardened and he retorted back into anger.  “Shit, just let me do my own thing and mind your own business.”

Liam stormed off and left baffled Jim behind. His brother was an ass. He was an angry old ass and he would prove to be a lot of problem if he wouldn’t shake that attitude. And Jim knew his brother would rather take his temper to the grave.

Annoyed, Jim kicked a small can next to his foot. It hit the wall on opposite side of the room and clattered on the floor.

Suddenly, the rattle was followed by a loud crash on the wall. Startled, Jim backed away and shot a look at the others. Judy and her little girl had heard the racket, even though they were sitting further away by the bedrolls. They both had terrified looks on their faces, Judy was shielding her daughter with his arms. They looked at Jim like he had just signed their death sentences. George looked furious.

“Hey!” He shouted. “What the – “

“Shut the fuck up!” Liam silenced him before he could speak. He had a startled expression on his face as he followed the slightly rocking can with his eyes. When his eyes reached Jim, who had an uncomfortable look on his face, his face twisted with fury.

“You.”

“Stupid.”

“Piece Of.”

“Shit!”

He gritted through his teeth as he stomped towards Jim.

Jim tried to back away from his brother, but was obstructed by the wall behind him.

“I’m – “

Before he could finish, he felt sharp pain as Liam’s rough fist contacted with his chin. The impact was enough to drop him on his knees and left him spitting out blood.

 _“What the fuck?”_ Jim was mortified. Tears started to rise on his eyes. Tears combined of pain, blow on his dignity and the fact that his own brother had just hit him square on the jaw.

He painfully forced the tears back and raised his gaze on his brother. Liam looked horrified, like he had acted without thinking.

Before either one of them could speak, Judy let out a muffled scream.  The wall was creaking and twisting, sounds violent scratching and moaning filling the space.

The wall was going to give in.

 _"Shit."_ Jim thought, before jumping on his feet.


End file.
